Before I begin, let me first say that Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. The Christmas season awakens feelings in everyone that just can't be replicated at any other time of year. In fact, I consider Christmas to be so special and worthy of its own season that I must defend it against absurdly premature advertising attempts.
October is a wonderful time. It finally feels like autumn (which some may remember is the season I most adore) and the transition of nature to prepare for the colder season makes for some spectacular scenery. When I walk into CVS to pick up yet another gallon of apple cider and maybe some candy corn, what I do NOT want to see is a life-sized pine tree in the window, accompanied by a decorative sign prompting me to "Have a Merry Little Christmas!" I definitely do not want to walk through the aisles and have the life scared out of me by a dancing and singing Santa Claus (wait, isn't there a holiday that's ACTUALLY coming up that involves scaring people? I can't remember...). I have to actually search for my candy corn, since it's been relegated to a tiny fraction of a shelf behind stacks and stacks of candy canes.
As insulting as it is that Christmas tries to steal Halloween's thunder, what about Thanksgiving? It's hardly even a holiday anymore. Thanksgiving falls within a short stretch of the season largely devoid of holidays (unless we're considering the birthday of yours truly), so shouldn't Thanksgiving at least be allowed to dominate the month of November? Not according to retailers. As soon as they consider Halloween to be over (often times in the middle of October), stores jump right to Christmas. No turkeys, no cute pilgrims. Pumpkins and skeletons become ornaments and stockings faster than you can say "cornucopia."
Of course, this could be seen as a metaphor for consumer society. Stores seem to think that we care more about stocking up for a hyper-commercialized holiday two months earlier than we do about a holiday that in its very essence is about togetherness, and perhaps for some that may be true. Speaking as a lover of both autumn and Christmas, we ought to respect the joys of both by keeping them in their respective months. It's difficult to appreciate the true joy and beauty of Christmas when it's been shoved at you at all angles since late September — once December finally comes, we feel desensitized to the holiday and its meaning. I have dubbed this experience "Christmas fatigue." I have begun to suspect "Christmas fatigue" as the culprit to why it takes me longer to get into the Christmas spirit than it used to. It doesn't carry the same magic as it would if it would simply let autumn be autumn. I would appreciate it if we could banish Christmas to the month of December, but at the very least to after Thanksgiving is over. Maybe this is one of the reasons autumn is so overlooked...its entirety is spent in anticipation of the Christmas season.
Christmas, we love you, but please, stay in your corner. You are possibly the most widely lauded of all for being "the most wonderful time of the year," so let the other holidays have their time to shine! For the sake of the sanity of the American public, we thank you.
